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Gre$ha
Coming of Age in the Bloodsong Clan In the plains of the northernmost region of Gl'rel, there lives a tribe of nomads known as the Bloodsong. They are descendants of half-orcs who decided to eschew once and for all the society that saw them as no more than villains and outcasts. They rarely interact with other tribes in the area, save for the rare barter or skirmish. These other clans are happy to give the Bloodsong a wide berth; though they lack the cruelty of their full-blooded orc ancestors, they do not lack their ferocity. Whenever the clan’s battle prowess is tested, the half-orcs gain a decisive and bloody victory. When the Bloodsong’s Council of Elders proclaims a youth ready for it, he or she is sent on a coming-of-age journey in which they must find something of value and bring it back to the tribe. This could be a wide number of things: treasures, new technology from the outside lands, even glory through deeds. The Council is demanding, however, and in no need of new blood thanks to the steady stream of half-orc outcasts from civilization finding their way to the tribe. If a young half-orc brings back something deemed unworthy, they become a menial servant for the rest of the Bloodsong, unfit to move any farther through the ranks of their society. If their gift is very unworthy, they can be put to death. Gresha Gutsplit has been on her quest for over a year now. It is not uncommon for those on one of these quests to be gone for years. If you were to ask, Gresha would boast that she could have returned in a week with a fine prize, but her ambitions are greater than that. Whether or not she would have truly been so successful is up for debate, but her desires are not. Gresha aspires to join the Council one day, and so she must return with a truly legendary gift in order to start making a name for herself. Family As in many tribal cultures, less value is placed on individual family units in the Bloodsong, but the bond is still there. Gresha’s father, Ar, is part of the clan’s warrior caste and enthusiastically raised Gresha in the same tradition; her first toy was a wooden battle-axe. Her mother, Terash, is a more recent addition to the tribe – she escaped city life in her younger years to live among the Bloodsong, who she had heard about from a traveling bard. Though she does not have generations of Bloodsong heritage behind her, Terash made herself useful to the clan through her (highly reckless) command of engineering, pioneering new ways to keep the tribe warm during the long winter months, as well as more efficient explosives to clear boulders from paths and kobolds from caves. “There’s nothing like 20 barrels of black powder to solve your problems!” she’d tell a young Gresha, as the child stacked said barrels by obstructions. “''Any'' problem!” Gresha was particularly close to her grandmother, Ashdar. While not on the Council of Elders, Ashdar was widely respected as a seeress and wisewoman, as her mother had been before her, and her mother's mother before that, reaching back to the founding of the Bloodsong Clan generations earlier. Ashdar lamented that she had no daughter to whom she could pass these age-old traditions, so when Gresha was born, she set about teaching her granddaughter all she could. To Ashdar's dismay, Gresha did not have the Sight - she could no more see through the mists of time than she could a tarnished mirror. The girlchild showed more aptitude with herbs and healing, however, and another trait that had been known to surface in the Bloodsong from time to time: an intense attunement with nature. At eight years old, Gresha seemed to have an almost telepathic link with animals; strangling vines and thornbushes would part for her. This power came and went randomly, though, and was completely unintentional on the child's part. Ashdar tried repeatedly to harness Gresha's druidism, but she was a headstrong and impatient girl, who would rather be sparring with her friends or chasing boars. As Ashdar herself had no first-hand experience with druids or nature magic, she finally admitted defeat - but not before nicking her granddaughter's palm with a ritual knife one day and reading the pattern and color of the blood that fell to the dusty earth. Upon seeing what the blood told her, Ashdar smiled, despite Gresha's angry muttering at her side. Gresha would one day come into her druidic powers. She did not know how, she did not know when, but once Gresha had faced enough adversity, had seen enough of the world to understand how all creatures connected to it - her magic would make itself known. Appearance Gresha is 20 years old, and built like a small mountain, with greenish-grey skin and light brown hair. She prefers to keep her hair in elaborate braids, her one concession to physical vanity. Upon rediscovering her latent druidic talents, she has taken to putting twigs or flowers or sometimes small birds or lizards she finds in the plaits in order to look the part. Her clothes are mostly hide and fur, adorned here and there with interesting trinkets she’s found in her adventures.